Traditional electrical grids, including distribution and transmission systems, employ state estimation as a tool for efficient operation of the subject electrical grid or portions thereof. As an electrical grid becomes larger and more complex, and especially as it becomes an interconnected grid in which portions of the grid are owned or operated by different parties, state estimation increases in complexity. In the conventional approach to state estimation for an interconnected grid, each party in the grid performs state estimation of their own portion of the grid plus adjacent portions that can affect their portion. Each state estimator that covers a portion of the grid typically has a computer model of that portion plus measurements for that portion. Each such state estimator will get different answers to the extent that models or measurements are not properly synchronized. Maintaining synchronization, especially of models, can be very challenging. It can require constant attention to maintain high quality models. The owner or operator for a given portion of the grid may be the only party that is in a good position to maintain the part of the model that represents their portion of the grid. In current practice, most state estimators have high quality models limited to their owner/operator's portion of the grid, and poorer quality models for other portions of the grid.
The above-described deficiencies of traditional electrical grids are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of conventional technologies, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with conventional technologies and corresponding benefits of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein may become further apparent upon review of the following description.